What traffic police can learn from Pune Inc

Even as law-enforcing agencies wake up to road safety drives only intermittently, here is how corporates are leading the way to ensure their employees’ well-being

Corporate houses in Pune have shown the way where public administration has failed to push through a mandate for wearing helmets for road safety. While the city’s traffic cops have tried to introduce the mandate time and again, only to let it go in a few days, in the face of widespread resistance to the headgear, private entities have stood their ground, forcing employees to take to the headgear.

The companies have leaned in heavily, ensuring their employees come donning the headgear to work, with their security personnel keeping a strict vigil on the practice. An important carrot-andstick strategy to ensure employees adhere to the mandate has been to make availability of parking space on the office premises conditional to the wearing of helmets.

At Sharda Centre (above left) and Kirloskar Brothers Ltd, employees without helmets are not allowed inside the respective premises; at the latter, seat belts are mandatory, too

Technology firms have been at the forefront of this initiative. “We are not allowed inside our office without a helmet and given the location of our office at Sharda Centre, near Mhatre Bridge, where the roads are congested with the presence of hospitals, colleges and restaurants, finding parking on the stretch becomes a huge challenge. I had to perforce get into the habit of wearing a helmet and now do it not just riding to work but to any other place,” informed Yash Deshpande who works for Persistent Systems.

He added that having 10-hour work shifts, IT professionals like him tend to let their hair down while on the road and that is when the accidents happen. “There are only two ways to ensure the success of the helmet policy — one, through education and two, through enforcement. Both are being deployed by companies today,” he observed.

If an employee is found violating the policy thrice, the respective HoD is intimated for initiating disciplinary action

— Sanjay Kirloskar, chairman and MD of Kirloskar Brothers LTD

At ADP India Pvt Ltd, a software company with offices at Phursungi and Yerwada, helmets have been mandatory for seven years now. Here too, those who do not follow the norms are not allowed to park inside the office premises. The rule has ensured that majority of the employees wear helmets while riding. “This policy was introduced as part of the safety norms for employees. The rule is not restricted to those at the wheels alone but also to pillion riders. Similarly, the security guards are also tasked with keeping an eye on those who drive cars that they have their seat-belts on. The safety norm holds good both for entering the premises as well as exiting it,” said Kashif Shaikh, spokesperson for ADP India.

Back at Sharda Centre, near Mhatre Bridge, Vodafone has been acting against employees riding without helmet. “As part of our health and safety policy, for five years now, it has been compulsory for us to wear helmet while coming or leaving the office,” informed Keshaw Pawan, a senior employee of Vodafone Idea Ltd. Pursuing the mandate in all seriousness, the policy is quickly impressed on new recruits. “At the time of induction, employees are expected to submit a photo application, where the employee is with his/ her bike and seen strapped up in the safety gears – including helmet and jacket,” he pointed out.

Deshpande from Persistent Systems; Vodafone employee Pawan

But the companies’ vigil does not end here. Its security is tasked with keeping a close watch on employees’ compliance. “Each person is given three chances and on the fourth lapse, strict action is taken against him/her. Also, the helmets are strictly inspected and only the ones with ISI mark are approved and others are asked to be replaced. The policy has helped to inculcate a helmetwearing habit among the employees that today stretches beyond the trips to and from office,” Pawan said.

Unlike the city traffic cops’ experiments, the mandate for helmets has sustained for several years at many of the companies in the city. Indian MNC HCL Technologies Ltd too has refused to allow riders without helmet to park inside their campus. In the absence of any parking space outside, those who commute on bikes have no option but to don the headgear. Same holds true of Tata Technologies Ltd at Wakad and an employee admits that the company policy has saved his life on a number of occasions.

One of the oldest Pune-based corporate house, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd, has also espoused the cause. “At Kirloskar Brothers Ltd, people are our most precious resources, and, some of our employees today are the fourth generation working with the group since inception. In Pune, the incidence of road accidents is higher than any other city in Maharashtra. We have made it mandatory for the staff to use seat belts in four-wheelers and helmets on two wheelers. Bikers without helmet are not allowed to park inside the premises and if an employee is found violating this policy more than three times, the respective heads of department is intimated for taking necessary disciplinary action. We believe that such policies will inculcate a culture that will be beneficial for the employees, their family and the society at large,” said Sanjay Kirloskar, chairman and managing director, Kirloskar Brothers Limited.

There are only two ways to ensure the success of the helmet policy — one, through education and two, through enforcement. Both are being deployed by companies today

—Yash Deshpande , IT professional

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17.38 lakh were the number of traffic violations in 2018. Fines collected from violators this year amounted to Rs 44.02 crore.

These daunting fi gures propelled us at
Pune Mirrorto kick off a campaign to promote safe driving in the city, only so that reckless drivers may mend their ways. We encourage readers to send pictures of people breaking traffi c rules on city roads on punemirrorcampaign@gmail. com or WhatsApp us on: 9960509256. Let us together make our roads safe.

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